Photo by Hiram Bingham
THE TEMPLE OF THE THREE WINDOWS: MACHU PICCHU
It was this extraordinary temple, whose most characteristic feature is three large win
dows, a unique occurrence in early Peruvian architecture, that led us to the belief that
Machu Picchu might be Tampu Tocco, the mythical place from which the Incas came when
they started out to found that great empire which eventually embraced a large part of
South America (see also pages 410, 414, 431, and 489).
On the other side we had a hard climb;
first through the jungle and later up a
very stiff, almost precipitous, slope.
About noon we reached a little grass hut,
where a good-natured Indian family who
had been living here for three or four
years gave us welcome and set before us
gourds full of cool, delicious water and
a few cold boiled sweet potatoes.
Apart from another hut in the vicinity
and a few stone-faced terraces, there
seemed to be little in the way of ruins,
and I began to think that my time had
been wasted. However, the view was
magnificent, the water was delicious; and
the shade of the hut most agreeable. So
we rested a while and then went on to
the top .of the ridge. On all sides of us
rose the magnificent peaks of the Uru
bamba Cafion, while 2,000 feet below us
the rushing waters of the noisy river,
making a great turn, defended three sides
of the ridge, on top of which we were
hunting, for ruins. On the west side of
the ridge the three Indian families who
had chosen this eagle's nest for their
home had built a little path, part of
which consisted of crude ladders of vines
and tree trunks tied to the face of the
precipice.
Presently we found ourselves in the
midst of a tropical forest, beneath the
shade of whose trees we could make out
a maze of ancient walls, the ruins of
buildings made of blocks of granite,
some of which were beautifully fitted to
gether in the most refined style of Inca
architecture. A few rods farther along
we came to a little open space, on which
were two splendid temples or palaces,
The superior character of the stone
work, the presence of these splendid edi
fices, and of what appeared to be an
unusually large number of finely con
structed stone dwellings, led me to believe
that Machu Picchu might prove to be the
largest and most important ruin discov
ered in South America since the days of
the Spanish conquest.
A few weeks later I asked Mr. H. L.
Tucker, the engineer of the 1911 Expe
dition, and Mr. Paul Baxter Lanius, the
assistant, to go to Machu Picchu and
spend three weeks there in an effort to